Apparatus for making building-blocks



J. A. MUTH.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING BUILDING BLOCKS.

APPLICATION FILED 05c. 30, 1919.

Patented July 19, 1921.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

J. A. MUTH.

APPARATUS FOR MAKING BUILDING BLOCKS.

APPLICATION FILED DEC.30, 1-919.

L 2. 92 n 9 w 4 5 mu w 2 n m P 6 8 1 0 5 8 3 1 UNITED STATES i PATENTOFFICE. I

JAMES a. acorn. or mILwAuiKEE, WISCONSIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 19, 1921.

Application filed December 30, 1919. Serial No. 348,342.

Toallwhomz'tma concern:

Be it known t at I, JAMEs A. MUTH a citizen of the United States,residing at Milwaukee, county of Milwaukee, and State of Wisconsin, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for MakingBuilding-Blocks, of which the following is a specification.

a This invention relates to apparatus for making b ping blocks. a

In making cement blocks or other forms of building. blocks, it hasheretofore been customary to mold the cement or other ma terial in theform of a fairly stiff paste. Thereafter, while the moldedblock is stilldamp and before it has completely set, the

core and other portions of the mold are removed, allowing the block toharden after it has been removed from the apparatus.

Blocks of this type necessarily are tamped as they are formed, butthistamping does.

not remove all of the small air pockets that are formedtherein in theprocess of molding, and therefore does not secure the homogeneousunitary structure that is a rere' quisite for strength of the resultinglook.

It is an object of this invention tofprovide an apparatus for moldingbuilding blocks by allowing the. operator to pour a thin paste of thematerial forming the block into the apparatus and about the cores thereof. After the block has set and hardened the apparatus is adapted to beremoved by removing the outer portions and collapsing and withdrawingthe rigid core. In view of the fact that a number of these blocksarepoured at one time, it is,'therefore, necessary that the structure ofboth the mold and the core be of rigid and unyielding formation.

which will withstand the pressure imposed thereon without bowinginwardly and which may be removed from theblock after such block hashardened and has set to'its unyielding shape.

Embodiments of the invention are shown in the accompanying drawingsinwhich- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the complete apparatus.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the horizontal partitions,

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one form of the core. 1 i Fig. 4 is a sideelevation of the core shown in Fig. 3. y a

Fig. 5 shows infull lines this core in contracted position and in dottedlines the sur roundingblock.

Fig. 6 shows a modified form of core.

Fig. 1 shows the apparatus with a portion thereof broken" away to showthe interior parts. The apparatus comprises essentially a mold which iscom osedof a plurality of removable side mem ers-l' which are held inposition by means of end bars2, passing across the ends of the mold' andheld together by means of tie rods 3. The mold is divided into aplurality of compartments each of the size of one building block bymeans of a series of vertical partitions 4 and 4', and horizontalpartitions 5. The vertical partitions .4 and 4' are of the height of oneblock; these partitions 4 fitting into grooves formed in the interiorfaces of the sides of the mold 1. The intermediate vertical partitions4' fit within grooves formed between successive members 4 and thesidesof the mold 1. The horizontal partitions 5 arecut out at 6 so as toreceive and position the cores 7. These horizontal partitionscomprise aplurality of similar members which extend from the center of one line ofcores to the center of the next line of cores. The end members 5' ofthis horizontal partition are half the width of the intermediatemembers.

The mold is made ready for. the pouring operation by positioning thevarious cores intheir respective places and positioning the first seriesof vertical partitions 4 and 4.

Cement or other material is then poured into the mold up to the heightof the first series of vertical partitions which is the height ofthecement block. Thereafter, the first horizontal partition is positionedin the mold upon the vertical partitions and over the surfaceof thepoured cement. The second series of vertical partitions are nowpositioned and the second set oi iblocks poured. This process iscontinued until the mold is filled. This cement mass is allowed to dryuntil it has become set or hardened.

After the cement has set, the nuts are unscrewed from the tie rods 3 andthe members 2 are removed from the ends of the mold. The sides of themold may then be removed,

V which the members are joined by hinges 8,

the pintles of which may extendthe entire length of the core closing theopening between the members. The members may be composed of wood if sodesired, or of other non-yielding material. The side member 9 isunbroken, while the side member 10 is divided at 11 along a slantingplane. Hooks 12.,may be provided for locking the component partsof themember 10 together.

Figs. 3 and 5 show respectively, the core in expandedand collapsedposition, Fig. 5 showing in dotted lines a cement block 13. When thehooks 12 are unfastened, the component parts .of the side 10 may bepositioned one in front of the other, the end members 14 folding uponthe hinges 8 toward or against the member 9.

Fig. 6 shows another form of collapsible core in which the side members15 are both unbroken. The side members 15 and end members 16' aretemporarily secured together by elongated keys 1f? sliding in metallined slots 18.: When these keys 17 are withdrawn the members may besuccessively moved. toward the center of the core and then removed. I v

In both forms of cores the marginal edges of each of the members arebeveled as at 19. Thisis for the following reason:

- When the core is being contracted, either by swinging the parts aboutthe pivot points in the form shown in Figs. 3, 4t and 5, or by movingone of the members inwardly in the form shown in Fig. 6, all parts ofthe memher will move away from the surrounding cement block.

It will thus beseen that an apparatus has been provided by which cementor other kinds of building blocks, may be molded from a thin paste whichmay be poured into the mold and allowed to set. lVhen blocks areproduced in this manner they are found to be free from irregularitiesand air pockets. By having the cores rigid and collapsible, they may bereadily withdrawn from the hardened block.

I claim; V

1 In a building block apparatus, the combination of a collapsible,substantially rigid core having-a plurality of hingedly joinedmembers,jand means for separating a pair of blocks, said means having anopening conforming to saidcore, and said core arranged to passthrough'said means and into a pair of adjaoent'blooks, the walls of saidopening limiting the extent of expansion ofsaid core.

2; In an apparatus for molding poured buildingblooks, the. combinationof a knock down casing, a plurality of cooperating partitionspositioned, by saidcasing, and, a collapsible core comprising relativelyrigid, hingedly joined sides which may be readily folded inwardly,directly a ay from all parts of said blocks and removed from the blocksafter such blocks have hardened, certain of said partitions havingopenings conforming to the contour of said core. and allowing said coreto pass therethrough and into adjacent blocks.

3. A mold comprising a casing, horizontal and vertical partitionsdividing said easing into a plurality of compartments and cores in saidcompartments, said horizontalv partition definitely positioning saidcores in said compartments.

4.;A cement or concrete mold comprising a casing, a partition dividingsaid easing into compartments, and a collapsible, hinged core extendingthrough said partition. and limited in its outward expansion only bysaid casing.

5. A cement or concrete mold comprising a casing, a horizontal partitiondividing said easing into compartments, and a core extending throughsaid horizontal partition into said compartments, said horizontalpartition definitely positioning said core.

6. A cement or concrete mold comprising a casing, a horizontal partitioncomposed of a plurality of separably removable members, and acollapsible, hinged core extending through said horizontal partition.

7. A core, for cement or concrete blocks. comprising a plurality ofsubstantially rigid, members, means for temporarily holding said membersin a definite relation, said means permitting a relative movement ofsaid rigid members whereby each side por tion of each-rigid member mayhe successively, separatelyand' independently moved away from the cementor concrete block.

8. A collapsible core for building blocks, comprising a substantiallyrectangular hollow member having a plurality of rigid sides providedwith beveled corners, hinged connections between each of said rigidsides. all of said hingedconncctions being located intermediate themarginal edges of said beveled corners. whereby all portions of eachside member will move directly away from all portions of the surroundingblock with out producing any scraping action upon the interior of suchsurrounding block.

9. A collapsible core, for building blocks, comprising relatively rigidside members hingedly joined to each other, one of said side memberscomprising a plurality of parts adapted to he slid one upon the otherinto overlapping relation when said core is collapsed, all of said sidemembers being hingedly joined adjacent their corner portions.

10. A collapsible core for building blocks, comprising a substantiallyrectangular hollow member having a plurality of rigid sides providedwith beveled corners, hin ed connections between each of said rigidsides, all of said hinged connections being located intermediate themarginal ed es of said beveled corners, and one of sai sides beingdivided into two parts, whereby said two parts may be slid one u on theother into overlapping relation an whereby all portions of each sidemember will move directly aWa from all portions of the surrounding blocwithout producin any scraping action upon the interlor of sucsurrounding block.

11. A mold for building blocks, comprising a knock-down casing, aplurality of vertical and horizontal partitions for dividing 15 saidmold into a plurality of compartments, certain of said compartmentsbeing arranged one above the other, and a core for each set ofvertically arranged compartments.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature 20 in the presence of twoWitnesses.

JAMES A. MUTH.

Witnesses:

O. C. WEBER, A. J. MOKERIHAN.

